The first school day after the horrific massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, is not going to be an easy day for the survivors of the nightmare. But life has to move.

The first school day after the horrific massacreat Sandy Hook Elementary School, is not going to be an easy day for the survivors of the nightmare. But life has to move.

All seven of Newtown's public schools, which serve more than 5,100 students, as well as private schools in the district, will be closed on Monday, school officials said.

Instead of school on Monday, town officials said children would be able to attend a dayof recreational activities hosted by local sports organizations at the Newtown Youth Academy, a private athletic facility in town.

All schools in the town other than Sandy HookElementary School will reopen on Tuesday.

Schools are preparing for classes after Sandy Hook’s unthinkable tragedy. But here’s the question. Is school going to be the same for kids now after the terrible shooting that killed 20 students very close to their own age?

The answer is definitely no! Parents across the country are trying to deal with their children's fears about returning to school Monday for the first time since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown took place.

Jessica Kornfeld, a mother drove her children to their elementary school this past weekend. She wanted them to feel reassured that it was still a safe place, "Our school is the same as it was when you left," she told them. "It's going to be fine."

Teachers have also shared their concerns about they would face in the classroom Monday. "It's going to be a tough day," said Richard Cantlupe, an American history teacher at Westglades Middle School in Parkland, Fla. "This was like our 9/11 for school teachers."

The children who survived Friday's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School will not returnto the scene of the massacre now. They’ll be attending classes in a neighboring Connecticut town of Monroe.

On Sunday, just two days after 27 people were gunned down at the school, Newtown residents debated whether the school could ever be used again.

"At this time it's too early to say. But I would find it very difficult for them to do that. Certainly, that's one of the things they're going to have to look into,"said Lieutenant George Sinkoof the Newtown police.

"I have a kindergartner. I don't know how I would send my kids back there," said Carina Bandhaver, 43, a professor at Western Connecticut State University who attended Mass in Sandy Hook.

Resident Tim Northrop said he hopes the school reopens someday.

"They'll have to think about how they reconfigure some of the space and change the environment a little bit, but I think if we abandon that school, then the lunatics win," said Northrop, whose two children went to the school.

"I think we have to go back into that building at some point. That's how you heal. It doesn't have to be immediately but I sure wouldn't want to give up on it."